DFL'ers:
We recently took our Morgan on a road trip from here to Wappinger Falls,
New York. Due to unfortunate time constraints, we made the 3,400 mile
jaunt in 5 days - top stowed at all times. I purposely kept the car
between 75-80 mph and, at this speed, the car was able to get 27 mpg.
When we travel we try to stay off the interstates as much as possible
other than when we really have to try and make time. In Minnesota we
traveled HW #59 down into Iowa and until we met up with HW #3. We then
traveled east on this road until HW #61, which we took south until I-80.
Since the Chicago area is always so much fun, we stayed on I-80 until we
got off onto HW #6 and then drove across Indiana and much of Ohio on it.
Not much in the way of motels on that route! We then used HWS #20 and
#18 in Ohio before coming to I-76.
Since we had never before traveled the entire length of the Pennslyvania
Turnpike - we did so while enroute to relatives at Bethlehem. That
road, while not being cheap to travel, is still a work in progess and we
have now done that!
On the way home we pretty much traveled I-80, which is both the Ohio and
Indiana turnpikes. These roads are as close to perfection as one can
find east of the Mississippi - but then the reality of the Chicago
stretch reaches up and sort of grabs you by the throat!
We didn't see another Morgan or anything even close to it this time. We
saw very few old cars and/or sports cars on the road and that is
disappointing. It doesn't seem as though anyone drives anything
interesting anymore and we have become extremely homogenized and
somewhat colorless.
The Morgan, of course, always gets attention from folks in all age
groups - and sometimes people even know what it is! I usually come away
from these jaunts with at least one good "Morgan story" and, while it
was starting to look pretty bleak, at a brief stop in Fishkill, New
York, an older couple came by to tell me they had owned one some 40
years earlier. Practicality at the time seemed to be the reason she had
insisted upon its sale - and, of course, now they both wish they had
made a different decision.
Another man suggested to me that such automobiles need to be seen as and
become heirlooms within families - and that thought was worth the trip.
Later,
Arlo Levisen
Revillo, South Dakota '87 Plus 8
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